In generally known printing presses, ink blades are one example of devices which are used in order to allow the quantity of ink which is transferred from the inking system into the printing press to be altered by dosing. To allow such ink regulation, by the use of these dosing devices by operating personnel, adjustment elements, such as, for example, an adjustment wheel or an adjustment console, are provided in the control station of the printing press. By activating these adjustment elements, it is possible for the operating personnel to alter the dosing of the quantity of ink which is transferred to the printing plate or cylinder by the inking system. When an ink blade is used, it is possible for the size of an opening, which is formed between a front edge of the ink blade and an outer circumference of an ink ductor that receives the printing ink to be changed, such as, for example, by entering a certain control value into such an adjusting device.
A disadvantage of the generally known dosing devices is that, when adjusting the adjustment element or elements by a certain amount, a change of equal magnitude is caused in the quantity of the ink which is transferred. If an ink blade is used as the dosing device, this means that the opening between the front edge of the ink blade and the outer circumference of the ink ductor is always changed by the same amount, regardless of the current setting of the ink blade. If the adjustment path of the ink blade is divided into a certain number of partial stages, such as, for example, into 100 such partial stages, then an adjustment by one such partial stage always causes a change of equal magnitude in the opening on the front edge of the ink blade.
This method of dosing quantities of ink is disadvantageous. In cases in which only small quantities of ink are being transferred, a change in the quantity of ink which will be caused by adjusting the adjustment element a certain amount is relatively quite large. On the other hand, if a large quantity of ink is being transferred at the current setting, an adjustment of the adjustment element, by the same corresponding amount, causes only a relatively small change in the resultant quantity of ink that will be dosed, relative to the current quantity of ink being dosed. In other words, this means that, in cases with small amounts of ink transfer, in which a particularly sensitive adjustment is necessary, only rough or large variations in ink dosing are possible. However, in cases with large amounts of ink transfer, an unnecessarily fine or small variation in ink dosing occurs.
DE 100 55 827 A1, DE 100 32 765 A1, and DE 37 43 646 A1 disclose devices for use in adjusting a quantity of ink in ink systems of printing presses. The quantity of ink is changed by dosing systems, which are actuated by actuators that are dependent upon various parameters.